Steve Omohundro: It’s Time To Envision Who We Are And Where We Want To Go

Posted on: January 30, 2014 / Last Modified: May 21, 2022

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Steve Omohundro is a scientist, professor, author, and entrepreneur who has a Ph.D. in physics but has spent decades studying intelligent systems and artificial intelligence. His research into the basic “AI Drives” was featured in James Barrat’s recent book Our Final Invention and has been generating international interest. And so I was very happy to get Dr. Omohundro on my Singularity 1on1 podcast.

During our 1 hour conversation we cover a variety of interesting topics such as his personal path starting with a Ph.D. in physics and ending in AI; his unique time with Richard Feynman; the goals, motivation, and vision behind his work; Omai Ventures and Self Aware Systems; the definition of AI; Rational Decision Making and the Turing Test; provably safe mathematical systems and AI scaffolding; hard vs soft singularity take-offs…

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Who is Steve Omohundro?

Steve Omohundro has been a scientist, professor, author, software architect, and entrepreneur doing research that explores the interface between mind and matter.

He has degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Stanford and a Ph.D. in Physics from U.C. Berkeley. Dr. Omohundro was a computer science professor at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and cofounded the Center for Complex Systems Research.

He published the book Geometric Perturbation Theory In Physics, designed the programming languages StarLisp and Sather, wrote the 3D graphics system for Mathematica, and built systems that learn to read lips, control robots, and induce grammars.

Steve has worked with many research labs and startup companies. He is the president of Self-Aware Systems, a Palo Alto think tank working to ensure that intelligent technologies have a positive impact on humanity. His research into the basic “AI Drives” was featured in James Barrat’s recent book Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era and has been generating international interest.